Motown Album Sales

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Woodward posted some fantastic links to pages detailing Motown/Gordy/Tamla 45s and albums. One thing I found interesting was to see that so many albums either didn't chart or charted fairly low. I've read how back then, it was really a singles market as opposed to albums. Still I can't help but wonder if Motown lost a lot of money on the albums that didn't chart or charted on the lower rungs.

Would love to hear from others with insigts into how this worked with album sales- were the artists and Motown duly concerned or was the album more or less just seen as a loss leader of some sort?

[jobeterob]

https://www.greasylake.org/the-circuit/index.php?/topic/116321-the-supremes-diana-ross-stevie-wonder-and-ray-charlesusa-album-sales/

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

https://www.greasylake.org/the-circuit/index.php?/topic/116321-the-supremes-diana-ross-stevie-wonder-and-ray-charlesusa-album-sales/
That's VERY interesting!

[Motown Eddie]

Thanks to Jobeterob for sharing the Supremes Album Sales from the Greasylake site. I'll really be digging into this one.

[Motown Eddie]

Woodward posted some fantastic links to pages detailing Motown/Gordy/Tamla 45s and albums. One thing I found interesting was to see that so many albums either didn't chart or charted fairly low. I've read how back then, it was really a singles market as opposed to albums. Still I can't help but wonder if Motown lost a lot of money on the albums that didn't chart or charted on the lower rungs.

Would love to hear from others with insigts into how this worked with album sales- were the artists and Motown duly concerned or was the album more or less just seen as a loss leader of some sort?

Good question! Maybe Adam White's West Grand Blog could provide us with the info on this one.

[woodward]

Interesting data. I personally would love to see a similar tabulation for every CD release that was made by Hip-O-Select. That would be extremely valuable in establishing what the current selling price would be if you see one for sale.

[daviddh]

Interesting info. I think when it came to Supremes albums Motown released to much product and flooded the market that may have hurt sales initially.
Overall the Supremes did well in albums sales.
I am surprised Liverpool n Let the Sunshine in did so well.
I thought Lady sing..Blues sold far more as well as Diana lp

[Bluebrock]

Interesting info. I think when it came to Supremes albums Motown released to much product and flooded the market that may have hurt sales initially.
Overall the Supremes did well in albums sales.
I am surprised Liverpool n Let the Sunshine in did so well.
I thought Lady sing..Blues sold far more as well as Diana lp

I was surprised by some of those sales figures. I was pleasantly surprised by some and disappointed by others.

[jobeterob]

As I recall those were USSales only

[daviddh]

I thought Diana and Lady sold far more....copies..
I read Diana sold nearly ten million while Lady was close to 6 million but I go with these figures

[vgalindo]

I thought Diana and Lady sold far more....copies..
I read Diana sold nearly ten million while Lady was close to 6 million but I go with these figures
I believe these were for US sales. Not world sales. The Diana album did sale close to 10 million world wide I believe.

[marv2]

I believe these were for US sales. Not world sales. The Diana album did sale close to 10 million world wide I believe.

If that album sold 1.2 million in the U.S. , then it did not sell anywhere near 10 million total including Worldwide sales. Stop kidding around LOL!

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Before it gets lost amongst the sales figures and such, what I'd really like to know is did Motown lose money on non-charting or low-charting albums in the 60's. Or did Motown not really get to concerned since the 60's were more about singles sales.

[vgalindo]

If that album sold 1.2 million in the U.S. , then it did not sell anywhere near 10 million total including Worldwide sales. Stop kidding around LOL!
I’m sorry if this hurts your feelings but there are several articles that state it sold more than 9 million copies world wide! You can Google them yourself but here’s one as an example. I hope you don’t lose any sleep over it! Lol

https://theboombox.com/diana-ross-diana/

[jobeterob]

He still thinks she pawned his camera

[daviddh]

Hmmm . Well Eaten Alive sold over 3 million copies international copies but only like 200.000 copies in USA